Hung Cao is stepping in as interim Navy Secretary after the Pentagon announced the sudden departure of John Phelan with reports indicating he was fired.
Hung Cao, interim Navy Secretary, is married and has children. (Facebook/Hung Cao)
Phelan’s reported firing comes weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. However, Cao will now be taking on the responsibilities. He is a 25-year Navy veteran who served in combat zones. Cao had run a failed US Senate bid against Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. President Donald Trump had endorsed him in the Republican primaries.
Also Read | Why were Army Generals David Hodne and William Green fired after Randy George? What we know so far
Cao is known to take a tough stance against Communist ideology. He had compared Vietnam’s communist regime during the Cold War to the Joe Biden administration. He had also said during his campaign “We are losing our country.” Cao had then added “You know it. But you also know that you can’t say it. We’re forced to say that wrong is right. We’re forced to lie.”
While he will be stepping into a new role at the Navy, here is all on Hung Cao’s wife, children, and family.
Hung Cao: Wife, kids and family; all you need to know
Hung Cao is married to wife, April Lakata. Here’s all you need to know about her.
- She was born and raised in Northern Virginia.
- April Lakata is a writer and has reportedly ‘devoted herself to encouraging families in faith as they strive daily to strengthen their relationships in parenthood and marriage,’ her author bio reads.
- Lakata was a contributing author to the award-winning book, Faith Deployed…Again.
- April Lakata has also been published in the Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family Magazine.
- She has also been a ghost writer for several Op-Eds published in the Washington Post and Washington Times.
Cao and April have five children, among whom one is Grace. Cao had put up a post at the time of her marriage last year. “When your little girl is not a little girl anymore. Congratulations to my Daughter Grace and my new son-in-law Connor,” he had commented.
Cao and April’s other kids are Claire, Evelyn, and Liam. As for his family, Cao’s parents are Quan Cao and Ngoc-Tram Nguyen. The former was Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Development in Vietnam, before their family moved to the US after the war. Cao’s father passed away in 2022, and an obituary was put up for him.
Cao has siblings who are married as well. They include Thuy and Michael Lynch, Van and Thuan Tran, Diep and Ngan Duong, and Hai and Michael Eastman.
Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More
